Set in 1951, “Catch You Later, Traitor” follows 12-year-old Pete Collison, a fan of mystery and detective novels, as he discovers that his churlish teacher has told the class that Pete’s a Communist.

Them’s fightin’ words in those days. Newspapers and radios warned of the Red Menace as if Communism was the virulent equivalent of the ebola virus. J. Edgar Hoover rallied his FBI minions to uncover even the flimsiest brushes with socialism or communism, including attending one-off meetings that never resulted in becoming a card-carrying member of the party.

Such a meeting was enough to put the Collisons on the FBI’s watch list. An agent shows up at the family house to interview Pete about his dad. Suspicious and emboldened by his faith in Sam Spade and other relentless detectives, Pete starts his own investigation. He tails his father and investigates the accusations leveled at his family.

Curiosity doesn’t kill Pete, but what he learns certainly leaves his boyhood innocence behind him. He learns about his family’s poverty during the Great Depression, his grandfather’s desperate search for work, and an unknown uncle who was sent to a Soviet prison labor camp.

Some of the story is autobiographical, Avi says in an author’s note at the end of the book. It’s based on the true story of a man (unnamed) that Avi met early in his career as a writer.

If this inspires young readers to learn more about the complicated history of the U.S. and its World War II ally, Russia, check out Oliver Stone’s “The Untold History of the United States.” It’s not quite as black-and-white as school history textbooks suggest.